In the new Post-Cold War era, changing trends in security umbrellas and international cooperation make it crucial for states to identify challenges and opportunities in order to protect their interests. Comparing the present with the past, state and government policies on domestic and foreign issues are shaped and formed in a pluralistic environment with the contributions of different actors. In this sense, think tanks today are some of the key actors on the political stage who contribute new perspectives and ideas that challenge and change the state’s existing policies. Turkey, a country of geostrategic and geopolitical significance with a rich historical and geographic heritage, has to use these opportunities in most effective way in order to maintain peace, stability and prosperity at home and pursue her interests on a global scale. In this regard, Turkey needs to address her vulnerabilities through an appropriate paradigm and produce alternative strategic approaches. This paper aims to discuss the significance of the unique role played by think tanks while scrutinizing the involvement, contributions, and influence of Turkish think tanks on Turkey’s formulation of foreign policies and strategic decision-making processes. Accordingly, the case study model appears to be the most appropriate method as there are a considerable number of think tanks in Turkey, a wide range of foreign policy issues and more importantly, difficulties in evaluating the performance and level of impact think tanks have on policy-making. This paper will focus on the think tank- Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) in Turkey. SETA has had significant influence on the formulation of Turkish foreign policy.

Keywords: Think tank, policy-making, Turkey, NGO, SETA